Groundskeeper fired for keeping it
Aaron's 755th home-run ball to be auctioned
Posted: Wednesday January 06, 1999 06:45 PM
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The ball representing Aaron's 755th homer is to be auctioned on Tuesday Jonathan Kirn/Allsport |
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- A stadium groundskeeper who was fired for keeping
Hank Aaron's last home-run ball is in line for a large share of whatever it
sells for in an auction next week. Richard Arndt of Albuquerque,
N.M., has owned the ball for 22 years, having lost his job at Milwaukee
County Stadium in 1976 after refusing to hand it over to the Milwaukee Brewers.
"I kissed the ball goodbye," Arndt said Tuesday. "It's been a lot of
fun. I feel my name will always be associated with maybe a trivia question:
'Who caught the ball?'" Now, he said, "it's time to find out
what the baseball is really worth." Arndt said he got the ball
in the grandstands and wanted to give it to Aaron but the Brewers refused
to arrange a meeting, so he kept it. The ball representing
Aaron's 755th homer is to be auctioned Tuesday in New York City's Madison
Square Garden. It was hit July 20, 1976, so early in the season
that no one predicted it would be Aaron's last. Aaron autographed it for
Arndt in Phoenix three years ago during a card show, unaware it was the
755th homer ball. Arndt, 52, who sells office furniture in
Albuquerque, took the ball from a safe-deposit box and flew to New York to
give it to Guernsey's auction company Tuesday. It is to be
auctioned among other baseball memorabilia, including Mark McGwire's
70th home-run ball, a Babe Ruth-autographed baseball and Mickey Mantle's
500th home-run ball. Under an agreement with Arndt, Aaron's
charitable Chasing the Dream Foundation is to get 42 percent of the
proceeds and Arndt 58 percent, minus taxes and commissions to Guernsey's
and Arndt's agent, Tim Sullivan of Stevens Point. Arndt's offer
last fall to sell the ball to the Brewers was declined. He then was
contacted by Guernsey's owner Arlan Ettinger. Aaron tried twice
to buy the ball from Arndt, Aaron's Atlanta lawyer Allan Tanenbaum
said. Negotiations eventually involved Aaron, Arndt and
Guernsey's. "It was resolved peacefully and happily," Ettinger
said. Regardless of who buys it, Aaron hopes it gets to
baseball's Hall of Fame, Tanenbaum said. Aaron, 64, who played with
the Milwaukee Braves, then with the Milwaukee Brewers, is now a vice
president with the Atlanta Braves and owns
franchise restaurants in Milwaukee.
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